Peyton Randolph

Peyton Randolph (10 September 1721-22 October 1775) was Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1766 to 1775, succeeding John Robinson, and President of the Continental Congress in 1774 (succeeding Henry Middleton) to 1775, succeeding Middleton and preceding John Hancock. Due to his position as the first President of the Continental Congress, Randolph is considered one of the United States' Founding Fathers.

Biography
Peyton Randolph was born on 10 September 1721 in Williamsburg, Virginia. His father Sir John Randolph and grandfather William Randolph were both former speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and Peyton's nephew was Attorney General Edmund Randolph. Randolph attended William and Mary College before becoming a lawyer in London; he later returned to Williamsburg and became Attorney-General of the Colony of Virginia in 1744. From 1748 onwards, he served many terms in the House of Burgesses, and in 1766 he left the office of Attorney-General to replace the late John Robinson as Speaker. He grew to favor independence as the Intolerable Acts were passed by Great Britain against the Thirteen Colonies, and on 5 September 1774 he was named the first President of the Continental Congress. The First Continental Congress was held at Benjamin Franklin's behest, and it asked for King George III of Great Britain to change the tax laws, and it adjourned, set to reconvene in 1775 if the King did not fix the problems. In the summer of 1775, he became President again when Congress convened to extend the Olive Branch Petition to stop the American Revolutionary War from growing worse. Randolph died of apoplexy in September at the age of 54.